Palisades Region

Bear Mountain State Park, with the Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center and popular Bear Mountain Inn, offers miles of biking and hiking trails and great views. At Harriman State Park, visitors can seek solitude along 200 miles of trails, including the first segment of the Appalachian Trail, enjoy swimming at Lake Welch Beach or Lake Tiorati Beach, or camping at Beaver Pond or Sebago Cabin camps. At Minnewaska State Park Preserve -- recognized as one of the 75 great places in the Western Hemisphere -- 50 miles of carriageways invite exploration on foot, bike, horseback, or cross country skis. Minnewaska is also the only state park that offers rock climbing.

For early American history buffs, Washington's Headquarters in Newburgh, the nation's first state-owned historic site, depicts the Revolutionary War headquarters of General Washington, while New Windsor Cantonment in Vails Gate gives visitors insight into the weaponry, activities and atmosphere of life as a Continental soldier.

For the 2015 boating season, Harriman State Park and Rockland State Park will be initiating a pilot program for purchasing boat permits. It will no longer be a requirement to bring boats, life preservers, and sounding devices to the Tiorati, Beaver Pond, and Rockland Lake boat permit stations in order to receive the PIPC boat permits and keys.

Protocol will remain the same at Minnewaska and Sterling Forest. To purchase boat permits, bring your boat, life preservers, and a sounding device to these boat permit stations during their office hours. Note: Minnewaska cannot accommodate boat trailers.

Please be advised that all boaters will be subject to random inspections by Parks staff to ensure regulation compliance throughout the season.

Tiorati will begin selling boat permits on March 15th. All other offices will begin on April 1st. Please call the park offices for their office hours: